Offseason produces concerns

Published: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 10:38 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 10:38 p.m.

Last week we saw the ugly side of sports when New England Patriot tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder.

The sight of his arrest quickly brought to mind something I written about in the past and still holds true today. Athletic teams across every landscape of sports really dread the offseason in so many ways.

That reminded me of a story former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi told me about a former NFL player who signed two huge contracts, but since leaving the game, has gone through a divorce, spent basically all of the money and was facing major legal issues since he retired from the game.

“I love the offseason in the fact that I can kind of rejuvenate my batteries from such a draining sport and being judged on just 16 events each year. I hate it in many ways because for the first time a lot of these players are not in a structured environment and they get into trouble,” Venturi said. “Some of these guys have way too much free time, they start to hang out with some people that don’t have their best interests in mind, both male and female, and they have a lot of money. They attract people that during the season they stay away from because they are either practicing, at meetings, traveling or playing, and they stay in shape in the months after the season. But after these mini-camp sessions, they are all by themselves in some cases and each and every year we see a larger number of them get into trouble for either alcohol or drug issues or because of them having a loaded gun on them. You have enough money to have someone drive you to where you want to go and get back. And if you need a gun to protect you in where you are going then you shouldn’t be there. It scares the daylights out of me to tell you the truth. This is not a civil service job and it is very short. Coaching or playing in this sport, or to be honest in any job today, for any length of time is rare. There are not a lot of gold watches and service time parties being given out there anymore. It is part of the world we live in.”

Besides the Hernandez issue there were two other NFL players in Indianapolis Colts safety Joe Lefeged and Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent were arrested last week.

Lefeged was charged with carrying a firearm without a license, having an unregistered firearm, having unregistered ammunition and the presence of a firearm in a motor vehicle.

Brent failed a second drug test while out on bond on an intoxicated manslaughter charge.

Since the Super Bowl was played in New Orleans, there have been 29 known arrests of NFL players.

We all know about the incident involving New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Morgan after he was arrested in late May for driving under the influence and without a license.

There is still about a month before NFL training camps start and it is sad, but also true that you will see more of these incidents arise from players in the NFL.

While Lefeged and Brent were mainly role performers, Hernandez is a totally different issue.

The criticism in blaming the New England Patriots organization is ridicules.

Hernandez came into the league as a talented player with off the field issues and bad temper, but teams are paying for production. This is a bottom line league, like it or not.

Hernandez was a top-flight player playing a feature position at tight end.

The smartest football mind over the past dozen or so seasons in the NFL is Bill Belichick.

Even the smart ones can make a mistake when it comes to overlooking character for production.

Belichick changed what we have and will see in the future by having two very gifted tight ends, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, on the field at the same forcing opposing defenses to match up against these two tight ends.

Just look at the results.

Despite injuries in his three seasons in the league, Hernandez caught 175 passes for 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Gronkowski also has fought off injuries and caught 187 passes for 2,663 yards and 38 touchdowns in three seasons.

Now Hernandez may end up with a life sentence and New England is hoping that Gronkowski can come back from forearm and back surgeries.

How strange the football world has turned because these events may just have opened the door for newly signed Tim Tebow to learn a new position and switch from quarterback to tight end.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is will go down as one of the best ever, but he is a lot better player with Hernandez and Gronkowski in the lineup.

With a healthy Jimmy Graham and Ben Watson it would seem that the New Orleans Saints now have the best tight end tandem in the NFL and you will see the tight ends featured more this season.

While it is a tragic and very disturbing story involving Hernandez and while nothing else of this magnitude will surface over the next few weeks, you will hear about other incidents involving players and this is why coaches, front office personnel and owners all cringe during the offseason.

LSU REACHING OUT

In one of the most talent rich classes in the history of Louisiana prep football, LSU has landed commitments from top players from in-state, and from across the country.

In the 2013 recruiting class LSU signed 26 players, and the fruits of playing in big games helped nationwide as 12 highly-rated high school players from other states and two signees from junior college, that were not from Louisiana, signed on with the Tigers.

In 2013 the Tigers landed three players from Florida, two players each from Georgia and North Carolina and one each from New Jersey, Illinois, California, Tennessee, Nebraska and two junior college players in wide receiver Quantavious Leslie, who grew up in Georgia and tight end Logan Stokes, who grew up in Alabama.

In the 2014 recruiting class LSU has commitments from 12 high school athletes and seven of them are from out of state.

Already the Tigers have commitments from wide receiver Tony Upchurch from Dawson High School in Texas, cornerback Chris Hardeman from Alief Taylor High School in Texas and safety Ed Paris from Timberview High School in Texas.

Along with the three prep commitments from Texas the Tigers also landed outside linebacker/defensive end Sharieff Rhaheed from Fort Prince Central High School in Florida and wide receiver/strong safety Devin Voorhies from Wilkinson County High School in Mississippi.

This past week the Tigers landed the top-rated overall player in Oklahoma in defensive end Deondre Clark. The 6-feet 3-inch, 235-pound pass rush specialist from Douglass High School in Oklahoma City selected the Tigers over Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Clemson and USC.

LSU also got a verbal commitment from one of the top cornerback/safety prospects in Florida in John Battle.

The 6-2, 180 pound Battle had over 30 scholarship offers and the Hallandale High School product selected LSU over USC, South Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina State.

There is a motto in the Southeastern Conference that holds true today, if you don’t land top prospects in recruiting you better be prepared to play against him.

For LSU, which has built its core unit mainly on Louisiana players, the ability to reach out for some of the top players from across the country is happening in a big way.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Nicholls State junior quarterback Beaux Hebert, the youngest son of former Northwestern State and New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert and the projected starter for the Colonels in 2013, on what is the most important piece of advice he has gotten from his dad on playing quarterback.

“My dad always preached to me that the most important element of playing quarterback was to take it as one play and move on. It’s hard because I know my dad had troubles at times keeping his emotions in check out on the field, but he was a focused person on the task given him and he reacted negatively at times if others didn’t have that same sort of focus. But he played a long time at the highest level of football because of his talent, his focus and his drive to be the best he could be.

You can’t get too high and too low because of what happens out on the field. Basically, you can get caught up in the moment and by being so emotional you hurt your team. Momentum in sports changes fast so you have to be well grounded and play under control, but not let one really bad play or one really good play affect the next one. When I watch Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco play they don’t get caught up in the moment too often. Sometimes at that position you try and do too much and it ends up hurting your team as much as helping. It’s cliche, but it’s true, it is one play at a time.”

<p>Last week we saw the ugly side of sports when New England Patriot tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder.</p><p>The sight of his arrest quickly brought to mind something I written about in the past and still holds true today. Athletic teams across every landscape of sports really dread the offseason in so many ways.</p><p>That reminded me of a story former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi told me about a former NFL player who signed two huge contracts, but since leaving the game, has gone through a divorce, spent basically all of the money and was facing major legal issues since he retired from the game.</p><p>“I love the offseason in the fact that I can kind of rejuvenate my batteries from such a draining sport and being judged on just 16 events each year. I hate it in many ways because for the first time a lot of these players are not in a structured environment and they get into trouble,” Venturi said. “Some of these guys have way too much free time, they start to hang out with some people that don't have their best interests in mind, both male and female, and they have a lot of money. They attract people that during the season they stay away from because they are either practicing, at meetings, traveling or playing, and they stay in shape in the months after the season. But after these mini-camp sessions, they are all by themselves in some cases and each and every year we see a larger number of them get into trouble for either alcohol or drug issues or because of them having a loaded gun on them. You have enough money to have someone drive you to where you want to go and get back. And if you need a gun to protect you in where you are going then you shouldn't be there. It scares the daylights out of me to tell you the truth. This is not a civil service job and it is very short. Coaching or playing in this sport, or to be honest in any job today, for any length of time is rare. There are not a lot of gold watches and service time parties being given out there anymore. It is part of the world we live in.”</p><p>Besides the Hernandez issue there were two other NFL players in Indianapolis Colts safety Joe Lefeged and Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent were arrested last week.</p><p>Lefeged was charged with carrying a firearm without a license, having an unregistered firearm, having unregistered ammunition and the presence of a firearm in a motor vehicle.</p><p>Brent failed a second drug test while out on bond on an intoxicated manslaughter charge.</p><p>Since the Super Bowl was played in New Orleans, there have been 29 known arrests of NFL players.</p><p>We all know about the incident involving New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Morgan after he was arrested in late May for driving under the influence and without a license. </p><p>There is still about a month before NFL training camps start and it is sad, but also true that you will see more of these incidents arise from players in the NFL.</p><p>While Lefeged and Brent were mainly role performers, Hernandez is a totally different issue. </p><p>The criticism in blaming the New England Patriots organization is ridicules.</p><p>Hernandez came into the league as a talented player with off the field issues and bad temper, but teams are paying for production. This is a bottom line league, like it or not.</p><p>Hernandez was a top-flight player playing a feature position at tight end.</p><p>The smartest football mind over the past dozen or so seasons in the NFL is Bill Belichick.</p><p>Even the smart ones can make a mistake when it comes to overlooking character for production.</p><p>Belichick changed what we have and will see in the future by having two very gifted tight ends, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, on the field at the same forcing opposing defenses to match up against these two tight ends.</p><p>Just look at the results.</p><p>Despite injuries in his three seasons in the league, Hernandez caught 175 passes for 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns.</p><p>Gronkowski also has fought off injuries and caught 187 passes for 2,663 yards and 38 touchdowns in three seasons.</p><p>Now Hernandez may end up with a life sentence and New England is hoping that Gronkowski can come back from forearm and back surgeries.</p><p>How strange the football world has turned because these events may just have opened the door for newly signed Tim Tebow to learn a new position and switch from quarterback to tight end.</p><p>Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is will go down as one of the best ever, but he is a lot better player with Hernandez and Gronkowski in the lineup. </p><p>With a healthy Jimmy Graham and Ben Watson it would seem that the New Orleans Saints now have the best tight end tandem in the NFL and you will see the tight ends featured more this season.</p><p>While it is a tragic and very disturbing story involving Hernandez and while nothing else of this magnitude will surface over the next few weeks, you will hear about other incidents involving players and this is why coaches, front office personnel and owners all cringe during the offseason.</p><p> </p><p>LSU REACHING OUT</p><p>In one of the most talent rich classes in the history of Louisiana prep football, LSU has landed commitments from top players from in-state, and from across the country.</p><p>In the 2013 recruiting class LSU signed 26 players, and the fruits of playing in big games helped nationwide as 12 highly-rated high school players from other states and two signees from junior college, that were not from Louisiana, signed on with the Tigers.</p><p>In 2013 the Tigers landed three players from Florida, two players each from Georgia and North Carolina and one each from New Jersey, Illinois, California, Tennessee, Nebraska and two junior college players in wide receiver Quantavious Leslie, who grew up in Georgia and tight end Logan Stokes, who grew up in Alabama.</p><p>In the 2014 recruiting class LSU has commitments from 12 high school athletes and seven of them are from out of state.</p><p>Already the Tigers have commitments from wide receiver Tony Upchurch from Dawson High School in Texas, cornerback Chris Hardeman from Alief Taylor High School in Texas and safety Ed Paris from Timberview High School in Texas.</p><p>Along with the three prep commitments from Texas the Tigers also landed outside linebacker/defensive end Sharieff Rhaheed from Fort Prince Central High School in Florida and wide receiver/strong safety Devin Voorhies from Wilkinson County High School in Mississippi.</p><p>This past week the Tigers landed the top-rated overall player in Oklahoma in defensive end Deondre Clark. The 6-feet 3-inch, 235-pound pass rush specialist from Douglass High School in Oklahoma City selected the Tigers over Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Clemson and USC. </p><p>LSU also got a verbal commitment from one of the top cornerback/safety prospects in Florida in John Battle. </p><p>The 6-2, 180 pound Battle had over 30 scholarship offers and the Hallandale High School product selected LSU over USC, South Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina State. </p><p>There is a motto in the Southeastern Conference that holds true today, if you don't land top prospects in recruiting you better be prepared to play against him.</p><p>For LSU, which has built its core unit mainly on Louisiana players, the ability to reach out for some of the top players from across the country is happening in a big way.</p><p> </p><p>QUOTE OF THE WEEK </p><p>Nicholls State junior quarterback Beaux Hebert, the youngest son of former Northwestern State and New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert and the projected starter for the Colonels in 2013, on what is the most important piece of advice he has gotten from his dad on playing quarterback.</p><p>“My dad always preached to me that the most important element of playing quarterback was to take it as one play and move on. It's hard because I know my dad had troubles at times keeping his emotions in check out on the field, but he was a focused person on the task given him and he reacted negatively at times if others didn't have that same sort of focus. But he played a long time at the highest level of football because of his talent, his focus and his drive to be the best he could be. </p><p>You can't get too high and too low because of what happens out on the field. Basically, you can get caught up in the moment and by being so emotional you hurt your team. Momentum in sports changes fast so you have to be well grounded and play under control, but not let one really bad play or one really good play affect the next one. When I watch Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco play they don't get caught up in the moment too often. Sometimes at that position you try and do too much and it ends up hurting your team as much as helping. It's cliche, but it's true, it is one play at a time.”</p><p>NFL analyst Mike Detillier lives in Raceland</p>